Long-suffering Avenel travellers on the north east rail line might have to catch buses a little less often after the Victorian Government last week announced it was converting an existing V/Line locomotive to standard gauge. The move will take the number of locomotives to four. At present routine maintenance means one of the existing three locomotives is almost always off-line, leaving only two available to operate the six daily services. If a second locomotive has to be withdrawn from service due to a fault or damage from an animal strike, there is only one available, meaning services need to be replaced by coaches. Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the transfer of an additional locomotive from the broad gauge fleet had been made possible by the introduction of a new overnight maintenance regime, which meant more trains were available for passenger services. The extra locomotive was expected to be ready by the end of July. The government was also about to launch a Regional Network Development Plan it hopes will be a longterm strategy to boost capacity, reliability and coverage of the regional public transport network. Public consultation will begin soon. Communities in northern Victoria will be consulted as part of the development of the plan, with Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes heading a regional advisory group that will run the consultations. The Regional Network Development Plan will set out the priorities for our regional public transport network, including infrastructure upgrades, network extension and rolling stock requirements, she said. State Member for Euroa Steph Ryan said: I hope this means the . . . government has finally come to its senses and realised it cannot just ignore the north-east line. This announcement wont result in any additional services on the Albury-Southern Cross line. Daniel Andrews must do a lot more if he is going to make a difference for commuters on the north-east line.